Rain Bird SST900I Simple to Set Indoor Timer, 9-Zone (Discontinued by Manufacturer; replaced by SST900IN)

I just installed my lawn sprikler controller. This was a replacement for a unit that had been in service for 20+ years.The install went fairly well. However, it was pouring down rain while I was performing the install. I could not get the "water now" function to work to see if I had installed the system correctly. I called Rainbird for assistance. To make a very long story short, the "rain sensor" will not allow the manual "water now" function to work if it is raining. You also need to have the yellow jumper wire installed if you want to bypass the "rain sensor". You can see why it took the technician and me a long time to figure out this unique combination of events. If you are installing the controller and it is not raining or hasn't rained recently, you shouldn't have this problem.The system seems to work flawlessly and regardless of my problems, the install was easy despite the fact that this was a replacement for a 20+ year old system.My only complaint was that it took me all day to get through to Rainbird. This was the Tuesday after Labor Day and I guess their call volumes are very heavy the day after a holiday, but it was quite frustating, nevertheless. Had it not been raining when I was doing my install, I probably wouldn't even have had to call them.This is an edit of my previous review:I'm disappointed that this controller does not have a manual function. That is, I don't necessarily want to water on a schedule, but when my yard needs it. This controller does not have a manual function. You have to run each zone by itself and start each zone one at a time after they complete. The default of 10 minutes per zone cannot be changed in the manual mode. This is disappointing. Their product promotion tells you what it will do, but not what it will not do.

I have used several different models of timer/controller from Rain Bird and Orbit and this is by far the best. Many of the features have been covered in these reviews, so I am going to cover only the things that I didn't see in the other reviews.Multiple Common Wire ConnectionsThis unit can accommodate two common wires (see photo) so you can consolidate two separate systems into one (for example, one system for the back yard and one for the front).Water One and Water AllThere seems to be some confusion about this as a number of older reviews state that you cannot water a single station easily or water all stations. This feature has been added to the unit (see photograph). For water all, you just hit the Water All Now button. For watering a single station manually, you dial the station and then hit the Water One Zone Now button.Display next watering timeWhen the unit is set to Auto, it will not only display the current time, but it displays the date and time of the next zone to be watered (see photo) - a nice touch.Watering a zone multiple times per dayIt is true that you cannot directly control the additional watering times when you set a zone to water more than once a day. If you need this function, you will need to look elsewhere. For areas where it is not important to you exactly what time the second, third, or fourth watering per day is, the interface is pretty clear on when the zone will be watered (see photo).Overall InterfaceThe overall interface is very clear and easy to use. When programming a zone, you dial the zone you want, press the days that you want to water and set the time you want the zone to be watered. It all shows up very clearly, so there is no guessing if you set it correctly (see photo)

I followed all the reviews and I understood how to program the thing. It came with stickers that solved immediately what the reviews were talking about. And that was regarding long-term programming multiple zones per day and all that kind of stuff. The thing is you have to start all of your zones at the same time then it will run them one by one. I just put it in and programmed it and it was very very easy to program just like everybody said. I only started one zone to make sure it would actually run on its own and if there's any issues with it I will let you know. These photos show the wiring and how I have it mounted on a newly framed wall also I do have a rain sensor installed. I do have it mounted sideways on a studded wall and objects hung in front of it. The point is, you set it and forget it unless you're going to adjust it plus or minus for the season adjustment.It is raining right now, all night as well. I checked the rain sensor (rain bird) with my multimeter and it would let the system run if it was commanded. I adjusted it to 1/4" and NOW it is interrupting the circuit correctly. Glad I checked. The timer does not indicate if the sensor is wet and causing a delay or not, just so you know. Also, the instructions on the sensor itself are extremely vague. Mine may have just been in a shipping / storing setting so adjust yours.

When we bought our new house, I purchased this unit to replace the huge, 1970's era timer that sounded like a ticking time bomb!As a previous owner of a Rain Bird 4-zone system very similar to this, I decided to stick with Rain Bird and get this unit for the new house, which had a total of 8 zones.The unit is completely silent and about 1/4 the size of the old one.Installation was incredibly simple and straightforward. Most of the time you simply hook the wires up in the same order you took the old ones off. I recommend taking a picture or two of your current wiring before doing anything. This will allow you to reference back to what color wire controlled what zone and at least put everything back the way it way should you find yourself over your head.Programming is also very simple. It also is pretty fool proof... for example, if you leave the start time for every zone at 8am, with each zone set to run for 5 minutes, then it will automatically start Zone 1 at 8am for 5 minutes, then Zone 2 for 5, then Zone 3, etc. This way, you can easily change the duration for each zone without having to ensure the start times for each zone do not overlap. It makes scheduling and updating very easy!

Bought this to replace my previous RainBird that I installed 14 years ago.The SST9001 is really easy to program. The LED lights tell you what to expect at a glance.The case does not completely cover the wiring from the valves so don't be surprised to see some wires when you are done installing it. A minor thing really.One thing did bother me a bit, its hard to read the little tiny circles around the selector wheel. The print is so small I had to go get my REALLY powerful reading glasses. If you have any problems with small print you are not going to like the font size they used!If you read the reviews on this product you may see some comments about it not having a 'Water All Zones" selection. The controller I received DOES have that capability so don't get spooked by those comments. Its the button on the lower left of the illustration, and it works just fine.One more thing, the old RainBird power supply that I had was connected to the control board by securing the ends of the exposed stranded wires. The SST9001 power supply has a premounted plug on the end of the (rather long) power wire. I only mention this because if you want to shorten the power supply wire you will have to do some pretty creative wiring manipulation.